The present invention relates to a lighting unit for vehicles, comprising a light source mounted on a circuit board and further comprising an optical attachment mounted in the direction of light emission in front of the light source, said optical attachment comprising at least one holding turret on one of the sides facing the circuit board such that, at its mounting position, the holding turret slots into a hole drilled into the circuit board, wherein the optical attachment is positive-locking to a holding body arranged on one of the sides facing away from the light source.
The present invention further relates to a method of mounting a lighting unit such that an optical attachment is joined to a circuit board populated with multiple light sources and also joined to a holding body.
Publication DE 10 2007 034 123 A1 discloses a lighting unit for vehicles comprising a circuit board populated with a light source and further comprising an optical attachment mounted in the direction of light emission in front of the light source. Said optical attachment comprises two holding turrets, each slotting into a recess in a holding body located on the back of the circuit board such that, at a mounting position, the optical attachment can be riveted to the holding body in a positive locking manner. This arrangement ensures an accurate alignment of the joined components such as the optical attachment, light source and circuit board. A disadvantage of the prior art lighting unit is that the unit is not mounted until an extra step of the process is taken after slotting the holding turrets into the recesses.